Many postal and shipping services (referred to collectively herein as delivery services) require prepayment for such services, as may be shown through some form of value indicia placed on a letter or parcel. For example, postal services such as the United States Postal Service (USPS) require a stamp, meter stamp, or postage indicia to be affixed to letters and parcels upon their entry into the mail stream in order to show that a requisite amount of value has been paid for their handling and delivery.
Often, either through error or malfeasance, a user of a delivery service may purchase and thus apply an incorrect amount of postage to an item for which delivery services are desired. Such errors in postage typically result in a payment shortage. Allowing such payment shortages to pass unchecked can result in significant losses in revenues for a delivery service such as the USPS. Accordingly, delivery services often have some procedure in place, typically manual, for identifying and handling payment shortages.
The USPS, for example, has implemented a manual procedure for identifying and handling payment shortages. Although the processing of mail and parcels by the USPS is highly automated, payment shortages are primarily identified through manual intervention. For example, as a letter or parcel passes through the mail stream, a postal employee may notice that a container appears unusually large or excessively heavy for the amount of postage applied. This postal item will be physically removed from the mail stream and placed in a bin for providing to a payment shortage processing department for manual processing. The payment shortage processing department will typically weigh, and possibly measure, the postal item to determine the correct amount of postage for the delivery services.
If it is determined that the amount of postage applied constitutes an underpayment, the payment shortage processing department may handle the mail in one of two ways. If the amount of underpayment is not excessive (e.g., less than one-half the proper amount) and the postal item is not part of a mailing from a same sender in which a large number (e.g., ten or more) of postal items have an improper postage amount affixed thereto, the postal item may be marked “postage due” and the requested delivery services performed. In such a situation, it falls upon the recipient to either pay the amount of the underpayment or to refuse delivery of the postal item, in which case the postal item will be returned to the sender where possible. If the amount of underpayment is excessive (e.g., more than one-half the proper amount), the postal item is part of a mailing from the same sender in which a large number (e.g., ten or more) of postal items have an improper postage amount affixed thereto, or there is another reason for refusing to deliver the postal item (e.g., the postal item involves international delivery), the postal item may be returned to the sender or delivery by the delivery service may otherwise be refused.
It can be appreciated from the foregoing that underpayment for delivery services can result in appreciable increased costs for a delivery service provider. For example, manual identification and processing of postal items results in significant per item costs over the typical automated processing provided by such delivery services as the USPS. Moreover, providing for the collection and accounting of postage due payments adds a significant burden to the delivery service's processes. Returning items to a sender incurs appreciable costs by the delivery service provider (perhaps as much as delivering the item to the intended recipient). Moreover, the foregoing processing results in delays in delivery of the item, thereby causing dissatisfaction with senders and receivers alike. However, such processing of payment shortages for delivery services is considered necessary by delivery services in order to discourage chronic or systematic underpayment, which would have significant revenue losses associated therewith.